Down the Hatch!

Of the many great events, functions, people and places I had the opportunity to visit while in Missoula, one of the most fun events was the Down the Hatch film festival held at the Wilma theatre on Saturday night. I do have the unique opportunity to see a lot of fly fishing videos and as I enjoy creating some short clip home movies as well, I have a lot to compare these vids too and I was absolutely floored with the footage that I saw at DTH2015. Production is getting ever so creative in the fly fishing movie world and some of the stuff that was in the film festival was mind blowing! Above and beyond the footage of 150 lb tarpon flying through the air with hopes to capture a 20” mullet that is also airborne and in addition to the variety of fly willing specie that I had never even seen before, the clever and captivating (and sometimes hysterical) storylines were not only entertaining but wildly refreshing. I had never thought about the possibility of needing to by streamers and their respective materials on the black market and from a ‘dealer’ in the dark of night because the store bought variety was simply less effective but when this story line was put to production it was nothing short of hilarious… at least to those of us who actually do buy, sell and tie streamers and care about that kind of thing.

So the really cool thing about this is that I knew before going in to the Wilma to see these flicks that we will be exploring the possibilities of bringing Down the Hatch to Washington DC area. My partner and brother in crime, Dan Davala has already begun to work on this project and I am anxious to support, assist and help facilitate this endeavor with him as well as a host of others that I have yet to connect with. Only a few stores in some select major metropolitan areas will be selected for this awesome project and we will putting our best foot forward to be one of the chosen ones… for sure!